Azernews.Az

ANKARA – Turkish nationalists performed Muslim prayers in an abandoned church-turned-mosque near the Armenian border on Friday in response to an Armenian church service which Ankara recently allowed in eastern Turkey, Today’s Zaman reported.

The prayers were seen as a gesture to stress the Turkish identity of the region after last month's Armenian Orthodox service, in a disused church on an island in Lake Van.

The government had hailed that service as a sign of growing religious tolerance in the predominantly Muslim country as it seeks membership of the European Union.

Following the church service, the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) obtained permission from the Culture Ministry to hold prayers in the 11th Century Cathedral of Ani, converted into a mosque by Seljuk Sultan Alp Arslan when he conquered the region in 1064.

The ruins of the abandoned mediaeval city of Ani, once the capital of an Armenian kingdom, are in Turkey's Kars province.

MHP leader Devlet Bahceli and provincial party chiefs knelt down and pressed their foreheads to the ground as they prayed in the building as part of an event launching the MHP's campaign for a parliamentary election set to be held in June 2011.

The service coincided with the reopening of parliament following a summer recess.

The prayers came less than two weeks after the service on Van's Akdamar island. The church had been closed for services since the 1915 incidents during the World War I.

Muslim Turkey and Christian Armenia are bitterly divided over their troubled history and the border between them remains closed despite US-brokered peace accords signed last year.

A bid to normalise ties suffered a blow in April when Yerevan froze ratification of an accord after months of deadlock.

Armenia says some 1.5 million Armenians died during the upheaval that accompanied World War One and labels the events as genocide.

Ankara rejects the term genocide and says large numbers of both Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks were killed during the chaos that accompanied the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

Last month's Armenian Orthodox service was overshadowed by a partial boycott because Turkish authorities failed to place a cross on the roof of the building, prompting many worshippers to cancel plans to attend.

The Armenian service was the second of its kind this year allowing religious minorities to worship in abandoned holy sites.

In August Greek Orthodox worshippers held the first mass at the Sumela Monastery on the Black Sea in nearly 90 years.